Patrick St. Michel - The Japan Times

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Patrick St. Michel

Patrick St. Michel is a Tokyo-based writer with a focus on Japanese music. He runs the blog Make Believe Melodies, which has focused on Japanese independent music since 2009. Besides The Japan Times, he also contributes to MTV 81 and The Atlantic.

For Patrick St. Michel's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Nov 15, 2012

Various Artists "Fogpak #4"

Walk into the nearest record store and check out the prices — CDs for ¥2,000 on the low end, some creeping into the ¥3,000 range — it's a lot for 10 or 12 songs. Thankfully, a legal online alternative exists. SoundCloud and Bandcamp allow musicians to reach listeners directly and the prices are often much lower than what's sold in stores. Thank these platforms for "Fogpak #4," a 21-track compilation gathering electronic music from across Japan in one spot, all of it for free or for a ¥500 donation — your choice. Besides the good value, "Fogpak #4" houses some of the most forward-thinking production in Japan today.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Oct 25, 2012

Netlabels Ano(t)raks and Canata Records give the old DIY spirit a go with some new tools

Dai Ogasawara's fledgling online label Ano(t)raks has released music from six Japanese artists from the Kansai region since the summer. However, Ogasawara, who lives in Aomori Prefecture, has yet to meet any of them.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Oct 11, 2012

Superfly "Force"

Superfly does one type of sound so well that there is no reason to try anything new. The project — primarily the stage name of singer Shiho Ochi, with some songwriting assists from Koichi Tabo — plays guitar-centric rock indebted to the music of the 1960s and '70s. It's a style that suits her well, and also one that sells — Superfly's fourth album, "Force," has already landed the No. 1 spot on the Oricon charts, making her only the fourth female artist to have five straight top-spot debuts. The album, though, refuses to just play to Superfly's emerging strengths as a rocker, instead forcing in the kind of ballads that have made her huge between the energetic throwbacks. This decision makes "Force" an uneven listen.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Oct 11, 2012

Magical Mistakes goes all natural on new album, 'Everything Uncertain'

Shiga Prefecture-based musician Erik Luebs, who works under the moniker Magical Mistakes, wanted to record the majority of sounds on his new album, "Everything Uncertain," by himself. Save for a few vocal snippets and 808 bass drums, his newest full-length leans heavily on natural sounds from the world around him.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Sep 28, 2012

Stage tribute to Jackson hits all the right notes

Like many people in the 1980s, Adrian Grant was a huge Michael Jackson fan. He was so fond of the "King of Pop" that he started a Jackson fan magazine titled "Off The Wall" in 1988. Grant says he wrote and designed the entire first issue by himself — in total, he published a scant 200 copies.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Aug 23, 2012

Rihanna, Grimes and J-pop rule at this year's Summer Sonic

When the opening notes to the Rihanna hit "We Found Love" played over the QVC Marine Stadium sound system Sunday night, the packed-tight crowd erupted louder than it had at any point in the show. Glow sticks were thrust into the air harder and bottled waters launched into the sky as the climax of the Summer Sonic music festival approached. As the beat tranced out, fireworks exploded overhead and balloons and glitter shot from the stage. Moments earlier the headline performance had featured a Sphinx firing green lasers out of its eyes, but this topped it.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Aug 16, 2012

Miu Sakamoto "I'm Yours!"

"I'm Yours!" is the third album to come out of the partnership between Japanese pop singer Miu Sakamoto and The Shanghai Restoration Project, an American outfit led by Dave Liang that merges traditional Chinese instruments with contemporary electronic music. They've been handling the production on Sakamoto's albums since 2010's gorgeous "Phantom Girl," a delicate collection of artsy-sounding pop that stands as Sakamoto's best release in her 14-year career. The collaboration followed that up with last year's "Hatsukoi," a slower but just as enchanting work. Now comes "I'm Yours!," the most pop-friendly recording between Sakamoto and TSRP yet, another strong CD from a duo who have been creating some of the best J-pop of the last few years.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jul 26, 2012

Her Ghost Friend "Looking For Wonder"

Something tells me Her Ghost Friend doesn't believe in the concept of guilty pleasures. The duo of DJ Obake and singer Shinobu Ono create pop music with bouncy hooks that isn't too far removed from the songs currently topping the Oricon charts. Her Ghost Friend's brand of J-pop, though, is dotted with influences from hobbies only a 2chan user could love: from a lifetime of playing video games and watching anime. The result is a full-length that serves up a more experimental and playful vibe than the majority of artists in Japan's mainstream music scene.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jul 19, 2012

√thumm "Mimoro"

Kansai-based trio √thumm's music doesn't just mix clashing styles together, but also touches on two cultural representations of Japan today. The group attracted attention around Kansai with two albums of maximalist techno-pop, futuristic numbers resembling the modern overload of Perfume, albeit without big-company money. Yet, like techno-pop forefather Yellow Magic Orchestra, √thumm (pronounced "root thumm") works traditional Japanese sounds and splashes of exotica to add character to its art. It also placed relaxed ballads next to the manic moments, piano-centric tunes made for rustic communities like its native Nara.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jul 5, 2012

The Beauty "Love in the Heart of the World Shout" / Faron Square "Willys Heartbeat"

At this time last year, Tokyo's Cuz Me Pain label was a collection of artists recording dark and dreamy dance tracks from their bedrooms, and that got them a smattering of overseas attention from various music blogs. In 2012, a lot has changed. Various projects under the imprint's umbrella have signed to labels domestically and abroad, highlighted by band Jesse Ruins joining the Brooklyn-based Captured Tracks. Their success has also inspired other aspiring Japan-based acts and the last 12 months has seen countless projects popping up on the Internet. The Cuz Me Pain crew has shown a definite desire to break free from the Web and into the tangible with live-house performances and physical copies of their music, two of the collective's acts — Faron Square and The Beauty — put out records last month (Cuz Me Pain released Faron Square's LP, and The Beauty's debut came out via leftfield disco pioneer Kenji Takimi's Crue-L Records).

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jun 7, 2012

Please show sympathy to all those involved in tengal6. The six-person pop-rap group is "supported" by Tenga, a Japanese adult-toy company (first line of their online concept: "The future of masturbation is here!"). I can just imagine the members of tengal6 dreaming of pop stardom, of seeing their own faces plastered across a sought-after display wall at Tower Records. Then I imagine the unease that must have set in when they realized their only ticket to greater attention would come from a company peddling something called a "deep throat cup." This has resulted in some critics tagging tengal6 as "that sex-toy group," conjuring up all sorts of icky images (and unavoidable innuendos whenever you write about them).

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

May 31, 2012

AKB48 'election' shows marketing brilliance

The biggest event of the year for AKB48, the 48-member pop group that's the most popular music act in Japan today, arrives next Wednesday.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

May 31, 2012

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu "Pamyu Pamyu Revolution"

It's fitting that the leadup to Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's debut album has focused heavily on her image. She's a fashion blogger and model now pursuing music, her clothes grabbing as much attention as her songs. Her savviest move was releasing three bonkers music videos over the past year featuring stuff like giant onions and skirts made of snack bags. Those clips went viral in the West, and turned her into an "act to watch" in this publication. Yet all the clips and promo shots distract from "Pamyu Pamyu Revolution" as a solid collection of simple pop.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

May 24, 2012

Hideki Kaji "Blue Hearts"

"Prolific" doesn't even come close to describing Hideki Kaji's career. Since the mid-90s, the Tokyo artist has been putting out albums and singles of upbeat indie-pop music at a constant clip. None of his releases are amazing, but his entire discography is still consistent. He also hasn't achieved widespread popularity — the closest Hideki came to fame was in 2009, when he was mugged in Sweden while dressed as a pineapple (he was filming a music video). His latest, "Blue Heart," won't fix that popularity problem, as it's another collection of wide-eyed pop that finds him in the same element he's been occupying for the last 15 years. It's another solid release from an artist who, while never spectacular, is consistent.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Apr 12, 2012

mfp "Mindful Beats Vol. 2"

"Mindful Beats Vol. 2" has one of the most simultaneously accurate and misleading album names of the past year. On a literal level, the title tells no lies — it is a second volume of beats made by Osaka producer Masaki Konagai, who records under the moniker of mfp. Yet it also makes it sound like an aural demo reel, a collection of music in search of an MC to rap over the sounds within. It's anything but, "Mindful Beats Vol. 2" is a confident and loud 50 minutes of tracks that doen't need any vocal support in order to shine.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Apr 5, 2012

Pictureplane inserts punk's attitude into a hard drive

Last September, music magazine Spin wrote that America was experiencing an "electronica revolution." Spearheaded by speaker-destroying producers such as Skrillex and Deadmau5, Spin wrote that a "new rave generation" has helped make electronic dance music an inescapable presence on the nation's music scene, to the point this bass-heavy sound has seeped into contemporary pop and hip-hop hits.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Mar 29, 2012

MiChi "Therapy"

It has been a good year for Japanese pop music so far. The Oricon charts still house the likes of AKB48, Arashi and a slew of acts that make me want to bang my head against the wall, but a crop of J-pop artists operating a little outside of the mainstream (Nanba Shiho, Kou Shibasaki and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu) have released relatively adventurous singles. Now, 2012 has its first great J-pop album courtesy of MiChi (real name Michiko Sellars). Her sophomore full-length "Therapy" rarely strays from the preferred commercial format — peppy pop numbers coupled with ballads. But MiChi refreshes this dusty blueprint without sacrificing catchiness — and so pointing a better way for J-pop.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Mar 22, 2012

Japan competes for attention at SXSW

On the afternoon of the South By Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference And Festival's second day, I sat on a shuttle bus with eight people who had been hustling between the countless concert venues in this city. True to the its slogan "Keep Austin Weird," a local resident whipped out a bag of marijuana and the driver nodded his approval. As a small pipe went around the bus, passengers discussed acts they wanted to see — DJ Diplo, pop duo The Ting Tings, buzzed-about rapper ASAP Rocky. After declining a smoke, I said "Japan Nite."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Mar 15, 2012

New House's YouTube marathons help deliver a debut

Yuta Mitsuhashi says he spends a lot of time falling into "YouTube holes": Watch a clip, click on a related link, repeat until the majority of your night has been spent staring at a computer screen. He isn't scrolling through LOLcat videos though, he dives into things like Thai pop music, Middle Eastern rock and the minimal folk of 1960s performer Moondog.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Mar 1, 2012

Your Gold, My Pink 'Teenage Riot'

Your Gold, My Pink's decision to name its debut full-length album "Teenage Riot" shows some serious guts from the young quartet. It's a title that has certain connotations, that either the band embraces the adolescent rebellion of punk — or just really likes Sonic Youth. This "Teenage Riot," though, sounds very little like either of those options. It mirrors the hormone-addled teen years well — Your Gold, My Pink swings between attitudes from song to song, the band going from dreamy to dour, sincerity turning to snark in seconds. This variety of emotions, coupled with an indie-rock sound unafraid to show off its sensitive side, makes "Teenage Riot" an enjoyable listen.

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.

The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores

By Alex K.T. Martin

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